.. Wreck of the Maitland. A Thrilling Tale of the Sea. The Mftitland loft Sydney abatit 11 o'clock on Thursday night last, arid procoudod] down tho harbor with a heavy cargo of freight and passengers. When tho upon son was roached it wasatonco patent that tho passengers wore not in for a fttirweathor trip. A strong southerly gale was blowing, and tho waves wore running mountains high. Between 20 and 30 knots had been travoreed when the breakers commenced to play havoc with tho deokhouaoa on tha star Krmrrl nide. The work of repairing was carried on aa effectively as possible, but tho struggle* provod thoroughly unequal. Notwithstanding tho fact that tho voasol was lightonod by huge quantities of cargo being thrown ov.erboard, nil hands, including tho liromon, taking part in getting rid of the cargo, the heavy seas contiuuod to break over the voshoI, and sho shipped several tons of water. It was pitch dark and extreme difficulty was experienced in locating tho vessel's position. As a...

Stack Ensilage. I really do not know of any bettor method for tho construction of a stack than that which alrondy appeared in tho Gazefcfco, under tho titlo of ' Description of Lucerno Stack Ensilago, as tried on tho Richmond River Sugar Oo.'s Farm in Rous, Autumn, 1891. ' Imaymontion that this method is being adopted by numerous farmers in various parts of the colony, and in a slightly modified form this is tho principlo of tho Wagga Experiment Farm stack. the stack, — On the four corners of a square, measuring 10ft. x 10ft., and pegged out in a dry position, besides boing protected by small drains (D) against the rain-water flow, wore orected, about 3h foot deep in the ground, four saplings' (A), about 28 feet high, and of a diameter 10in.— loin. On the throe sleepers (Bl B2 B3) was then laid tho flooring (F) with strong, but rough timber-slaba, and tho lucerne, after it was stacked, was covered with slabs (SI S2 S3 S). The light roof (C) of corrugated iron sheets should be so con...

Clarence Flood Prevention. Scheme. Mr. Darley's Report Reviewed. Sin,— In self defonco, I iiud it incumbent upon me at thia juncturo to institute a comparison 'between my schomo for tho Gluronco, and Mr. ?E; B. Price's rnoro rocout schouio for tho Hunter, and Mr. Darloy's reports upon both. AttnrwnWlH T slmll hn ill ft nosition to donl With ?'Clinking Cymbal's' latest lndictuiont, the crux of which is that my schomo was rejected bv Mr. Darloy. Mr. Prico rocoirod in Sopioiu ber 1895, instructions from Mr. Darloy ' 'to inves tigate and if possiblo doviso hoiuo means for tho prevention of floods in tho Iluntov,' and during the next eighteen months dovotod the wholo of his sparo timo to this difficult task, and embod ied bis conclusions in u report datod 24th March 1897, and tabled by order of Parliament about six months lator. Referring to the laudablo efforts of an army of predecessors in the samo field, Mr. Price, after personally examining the entire watershed, expresses his convict...

Meetings. ?jyrACLEAN FEDERATION LEAGUE MeatiDga will bo held under the nuapicpa nf the Maclean Federation Leaguo, ut which addresses will be delivered in auppurt of tho Draft Bill by Mr. D. SEE, Mr. T, McL. LOBBAN, and other membero of the Mnclean League, and Mr. SAMUEL SEE of tho Grafton League, ua under : — CHATSWORTH— WEDNESDAY, May 18. at 7.30 PALMER'a ISLAND— in School of ArtB, FRIDAY, May 20, at 7.30, Meetings will be held at other contrea later on. Til K DERATION MEETINGS, Ion. A. Kethel, M.L.C., WILL ADDRESS A PUBLIC MEETING --IN THE— School oi Arts, Maclean, ON THURSDAY NICXT, May 19, at 8 p.m., in support of the Federal Constitution Bill. r^r Mr. KETHEL will be supported by another dolegate from the Central Laague. ULMARKA-FRIDAY, MAY 20. rpO THE ELECTORS OF THE CLARENCE ft. J. leFarlane, I.L.A., WILL ADDRESS THE ELECTORS — AT THE — School of Arts, Maclean, ON THURSDAY NEXT, 19th May. (at the Federa tion Meeting), ULMARRA (at theFederatiou Meeting), FRIDAY, 20 bh May. BRUS...

Aldermanic Cricket ?.Match.- [By Ojjb'op TuK.Bt. ]'.'.'? Your .prediction a few issues ago that the Maolcnu Council might get past 49]in the aldermanic cricke match, but would finish, on the52 w»8 a close shave to the actual numuer recorded. At 53 the last ' Aldermanio' wicket fell with a deficit of 1G on the score compiled by the -Ulmarra 'brethern' The dny was all that could be desired, and nt 11 o clook the Lorua steamed away from Mncuaujjh tan'e wharf with, the full team. Arriving in Ul marra aboat 1.30 we wore requested to wend our way dowu Coldscreair -street to the beautiful little Park that was certainly envied by the visiting force of- 'amateur ' cricketers. There everything was up to Glistening form arjd' Crackera,' aa usual, rnehed upon the ground to gethia 'eye id,' hut unfortunately there was no room in the team for him, so ho bad to content himself with the office of umpire. Shortly after our arrival on the ground the two civic ' boaaes ' spun tho coin and our Mayor ca...

General Sporting. The Brushgrove and Ulrnarra football team beat Harwood on Saturday. Pony races at Grafton to-morrow. There are sis events, for which good fields are entered. We unde; stand there has been some talk of a match between Donnelly and Fennessey, and the latter is only waiting for Donnelly to make some definite announcement as to the conditions on which he wants to pull, and he will be pre pared to consider them, . The Maclean Convent school boys beat the Palmer's Island public echool boys at cricket on Saturday by 10 wickets. We have received from Mr. Humphrey Oxenham, the popular Bookmaker, of 245 Pitt St., Sydney, one of his periodical circulars, from which we gather particular attention is being directed to country sportsmen, who aro desirous of speculating on the approaching Rdndwick meeting. The same care, promptness and accuracy that haa marked the past can be relied on in the future. The football match between Southgate and Maclean on Saturday was not marked by a...

Spe-ch of Mr. Chamber] ain. Prospects of War. LONDON, Saturday. Mil. Chamberlain, Secretary of State for tho Colonies, delivered a most important speech at Birmingham luat night upon the stirring events how occurring throughout' tho world. Ho declared th»c tho fooling of wn;1 waa never moro strongly felt in the United Kingdom ihiin at tho present moment. Momentous issues were bufure Great Britain, which called for a firm stand on the part of tho Government and the people. He SHid tho timo is probably not fur distcui, when the Government of tho United Kingdom muat appeal to tho patriotism of I he people. This announcement created » tremendous hcmi s.uion Lind w;is received with vociferous chuor ii\g. Uuuliiniing, Mr. Chamberlain said that Great Britain would bo tumble to trust to the loyalty of Russia, if an alliance was entered into with th:it power, but Britain tiiusi-. not reject au alliance wiih those Power-, whoso interests were moro approximate. Ar. any moment Britain v.-.is li...

Mr. Want's Theories. The Anti-Federal Scarecrow. The addross delivered by Mr. Want ou Friday night was undoubtedly an interesting ono to a Maclean audience, who hud novor boforo had an opportunity of hearing u man of whom thoy had hoard much. Although Mr. Want claimed to bo in lavor of l'Vdciution and opposed only to tho present Bill, his arguments luno with equal lorco aguiiibii any kiiiu 01 rouoruunii as against that now oJiVi-ied to u-. Mr. Want's arguments would havo somo I'orco it thoy woro based upon tho provisions of tho Bill which ho condemned. But his attacks woro vory much liko Don Quixote's onslaught on tho windmill which his morbid imagination had converted into a giant. Mr. Want could not show that thoro was anvthiucr in tho Bill to justify his condemnation of it, so ho built upon it a hideous superstructure of iucongrous inator lals, which served to hido tho Bill and inspiro the peoplo with awe. l'o drop hyperbole, his argu uients woro bused upon moro theories as to wh...

Why Men Don't Marry. Marriage is on the decline, we are told, and one of tho chief reasons for this is that tho average man ?, is. vary hard to satisfy. Ho wants as nearly perfect a wornau — rr entully mornlly,and ? physically— aa ia pos sible, and in ilie present day very few such .women exisi. It is not out purpose to deal with ths (irst two attributes mentioned; : bub the latter, which is'no means the leaso im portant, is well worth a few words, which can not fail to bo of interest to all women, married or single. The woman of to-day does not give heiself enough attention in the proper direction; a little time taken from the study of the latest fashions and complexion powders, and given to the perusal of medical works with regard to the female organs, would do her a wonderful amount of good. Woman is so constituted that it takes but very little to disarrange the delicate organs, of her comoosition. In consequence she suffers more pa less pain afc least a few days periodi cally, a...

Mr John McFarJane. The Mombor for tho Olaronco has been officially informed as follows : — I. The Minister for Works has approved of the sum of £245 boiug expendod in cairyingiout works in several parts of the Clarence to prevent erosion of river bauks, and instructions - have been givon to havo the work carried out. . xns juiuister tor wonts aas approved ot re pairs ' being carriod out to road leading; from Harwood to Chatsworth road; along the Serpon tino.to Donag'jy's and a portion of road from the public gate at Eeedy Creek bridge down .the bank of the Creek. . The Minister states that the circumstances do not warrant further expenditure on road leading from Brown's selection at' Broadwator to Law rence. - -Acknowledgments to applications for the fol lowing works huvii been receivod, stating that applications will be dealt with, when the local olfioer's report haa beon received : — Eoad on Harwood Island near ComDanv's Sugar Mill. ' Eoad to Hill at Tatnba. Grant for repairing Wa...

. Our Graf ton Letter. Scur oi. Fkuries.— The Member for Graf ton has been informed, in reply to an application from reai donta of Biirrtoloy, on tho Ornra, that the Educa tion Depart.inenc will not supply bonts to enablu children to attend uchool, and pnrento tnuat provids boats themtelvcs. If the Department provided them, it would be responsible in case of nn acoi dent, Ma. Want on Federation.— On Saturday evening doapito tho unfiivomhlo weather conditiona prevnil iug and the fact; of it being the worst posBiblo night in which to securu anything like .i big attendance, the Theatro Royal was packed with a gathering of aome 500 persona to hear Mi. Want's criticisms of the Draft Constitution Bill, Mr. McGuren.Mavor. occupied the chair, aud on introducing Mr. Wnnt the visitor wna received with enthusiastic applause. It was i:\-iiliuit, howevor, tlvU Mr. VVnnt'n views were not hi accordance with tliosn of tho majority iu tho h-ill, for thnrn '.verc frrquont o.viaencea of tliassnt and d...

. Federal Referendum. The regulations in connection with the sub mission of tho Convention Bill to tho electors on Juno 3 state that tho poll will be taken from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Voters desirous of voting outsido thoir own districts must obtain a corti ficato of enrolment i'ro-ji tho registrar of such district boforo polling day, and whou obtaining the certificate must produce or forward their rights. Tho voting is to bo carried out iu tho usual form. Those against tho bill must striko out 'Yes' on tho ba 'lot-paper, and thoso in favor 'No'. Inorder that tho results of tho poll may be obtained as quick as possiblo, tho deputy at each booth will bo required to wire tho result of his poll to Mr. Oritohott Walker, 0, M.G., who is, the return ing- officer for the colony!

Telegrams. SYDNEY, Saturday. This M'Sharry arbitration case .was practically concluded yesterday . Mr. Bruce, Inspector of Stock has returned from Queensland. He states that very Bucoess ful reports have been received of the effects of innoculation for the tick plague. Two aboriginals quarrelled recently near Louth. One was killed with a tomahawk, and the other placed the body in a blanket with stones, arid sunk it in the river. Subsequently he. coufessed to the murder and tho body was recovered. Mr. Sydney Smith has announced himself ; as opposed to the Commonwealth Bill. The Federal writ will be issued on the 19th instant. It is anticipated there will be 300,000 votes when the referendum is taken. During April : 700U names were added to the electoral list in ths colony. Tho eatate o'f the : late George Robertson, a. book seller of Victoria, is valued afc £119,376. Tho Colonial Sugar Company have issued a nirnniar tn Mia: Rnnrljihftrff crrnworn In IIia ofFfin^ that they are prepare...